


Intermission

by yawningangel



Category: Midnighter (Comics), Midnighter and Apollo (Comics), The Authority
Genre: Dick Grayson (mentioned) - Freeform, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Henry Bendix (mentioned), M/M, Midnighter - Freeform, Prometheus (mentioned) - Freeform, apollo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9127033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawningangel/pseuds/yawningangel
Summary: It starts with a gradual awareness as Midnighter begins to wake. There seems to be more light in the room than he had remembered. Moreover, the body he had been sharing the bed with appears to have moved. His conscious mind begins to get properly into gear just as he hears the words, “We need to talk”.This jolts him into consciousness. Cracking his neck, he turns to lean sleepily on his side and looks up at Apollo – who is sitting up against the headboard, watching him. He looks beautiful. Of course, Apollo always looked beautiful, but catching him at the very start of the day – when the sun had started to stream in around the sides and bottom of the blind – now that was something else.However… when is “we need to talk” ever a good thing to hear? To buy himself time, Midnighter attempts to get away with a quick “Hmm?” He opens his eyes a bit more, trying to shake the last of the sleep out of his brain.  Hadn’t things been going well since he and Apollo got back together? Then again, his partner isn’t looking upset, merely thoughtful. So Midnighter follows up with, “We do?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after the most recent Midnighter run (2015-16) and before Midnighter and Apollo (2016) and is something I just kept thinking about, though in a fairly condensed form. It's a lazy title, but it's a title. 
> 
> It's my first attempt at writing any fiction in a long time, my first fan-fiction - unless you count one particularly amusing Vampire: the Masquerade character background (I don't!). If you have suggestions over warnings/tags, please feel free to send them my way. I'm pretty new to this! 
> 
> I make no claims to any of the characters, settings, etc.

It starts with a gradual awareness as Midnighter begins to wake. There seems to be more light in the room than he had remembered. Moreover, the body he had been sharing the bed with appears to have moved. His conscious mind begins to get properly into gear just as he hears the words, “We need to talk”.

This jolts him into consciousness. Cracking his neck, he turns to lean sleepily on his side and looks up at Apollo – who is sitting up against the headboard, watching him. He looks beautiful. Of course, Apollo always looked beautiful, but catching him at the very start of the day – when the sun had started to stream in around the sides and bottom of the blind – now that was something else. 

However… when is “we need to talk” ever a good thing to hear? To buy himself time, Midnighter attempts to get away with a quick “Hmm?” He opens his eyes a bit more, trying to shake the last of the sleep out of his brain. Hadn’t things been going well since he and Apollo got back together? Then again, his partner isn’t looking upset, merely thoughtful. So Midnighter follows up with, “We do?”

Apollo smiles and gives his lips a quick flick of his tongue, reaching over to give Midnighter’s shoulder a quick reassuring rub. He tilts his head slightly to the side, keeping his eyes on him and answers carefully, “We do. I want to hear about it; I think it’s time”.

Midnighter worries at his lips with his teeth, no longer used to these morning chats. Waking with the sun – and having a partner who doesn’t – gives Apollo so much time to think. But he didn’t raise matters that weren’t important, so Midnighter decides to make an effort. He owes that to him. He sits up briefly and plants a quick kiss on Apollo’s lips, holding himself back from deepening this in case it were interpreted as a deliberate distraction. Midnighter returns to lying on his side, propped up by an elbow so he can look at Apollo as he speaks. He says, “What do you want to know?”

“First, about all your new friends. I mean, I love the ones I’ve met. They’re good for you. Having friends is good for you. Marina, she’s amazing…” Apollo pauses, reaching down to give Midnighter a reciprocal peck on the lips and a quick smile before continuing, “…but you haven’t said as much about the Bat family. I mean, you got to hang out with them, to fight with them. And Grayson…”

Midnighter can’t keep a wry grin forming on his lips – still watching Apollo, of course, but feeling a wave of relief as this isn’t the conversation he had feared. He waits, but Apollo trails off briefly. Humour nonetheless dances in his eyes as he eventually continues, “…I mean, you saunaed with him. Of course I want to hear all about that”. 

And then the chuckle. That warm, beautiful noise, accompanied by a small shudder down Apollo’s chest as he switches from serious talking to teasing, moving a hand from Midnighter’s shoulder to run down his side and to give his rear a quick pat. 

This touch engenders a quick shiver in Midnighter, but he raises his brow in response and deadpans, “Yours is better”. Then he flops over onto his back and allows himself a full stretch. “Coffee? Please? Then I’ll answer anything”, Midnighter implores.

It comes as a relief when Apollo gets up from the bed and heads to the kitchen to put the coffee on. As the smell of percolating coffee greets his nostrils, Midnighter stretches happily and says – a little louder than he’d been talking before – “The Bats? Almost as dysfunctional as our little family… Grayson’s cool. He’s competent, but could do with removing the stick from his beautiful little ass about… levels of violence required to achieve results”.

He finally sits upright, watching in anticipation as Apollo – still dressed only in his pyjama bottoms – pours two mugs and brings them back, handing one over and cupping his own. 

After a quick sip, Midnighter continues, “One of the kids is gay, he… okay, you won’t believe this, but he seems to have the impression I might be a good role model”. 

Apollo chuckles, tossing his head slightly as he does – and for a moment Midnighter misses his partner’s long hair and how it would always accentuate such responses. But he reigns in the laughter and looks directly at his partner, suddenly serious: “You are; you just don’t quite believe it yet”.

Another quick kiss… a gentle caress… and then a pregnant pause.

“So”, Apollo begins, keeping a steady gaze on Midnighter. “Matt.”

Midnighter winces. He knew this was coming – from somewhere inside his crazy brain – and responds, completely devoid of emotion: “Prometheus”.

He knows, though, that while this would be the end of the conversation with so many of his friends, he owes Apollo more than this. “We’ve talked about this. We dated. He tried to kill me. He destroyed everything”. Still keeping his emotions in check, he returns his gaze to Apollo and sighs through his nose, “No, you’re right. What exactly would you like to know?”

“What was it like to date someone else?” Apollo asks quietly.

“Ahh…” Midnighter shrugs, trying to quickly gather his thoughts.

“I guess it felt good at the time, but nothing like this, nothing like knowing someone so completely you can have these fun talks.”

He checks his partner for a reaction, thinking how you can know someone so well and still be uncertain if you were seeing curiosity, jealousy… or something else entirely. So he takes a moment to savour the scent of the coffee once more. When Apollo seems content to wait for him to go on, he takes another gulp and continues, “There’s some excitement about feeling someone, anyone, wants to be with you like that, I suppose. But… Apollo, you know me. You know what I was hiding from… and now I do too. So now we’ll never know who I was and what Bendix really took away from me”.

Midnight pauses again to check Apollo for any reaction before stealing another quick kiss and then finishing with a whispered, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry for everything”. He rests his head gently against Apollo’s shoulder, receiving another quick shoulder rub in response.

“You don’t need to apologise”, Apollo says with a stubbornness and finality that Midnighter instantly recognises. It’s followed by him chuckling softly to himself, before adding – in a different, less considered tone – “But don’t think we won’t revisit the Bats conversation sometime”.

Midnighter sits up again and the two of them sit sipping their coffee for a while. He glances across at Apollo every so often, feeling that his partner may be doing the same, but they still seem a little out of sync and their eyes never quite meet. This is far from their normal morning banter, but he knows the conversation isn’t done yet, and that it’s now his turn. He’s fully awake now, revitalised by the warm touches, the honesty… just the feeling of being at home again. He collects both mugs and places them on the bedside table in a practised move. Then he gets out of bed, stretches once more, and moves to sit at a corner of the bed facing Apollo, one leg tucked under him, the other dangling off the bed. 

“But while we’re on the subject…” he starts, watching as Apollo tilts his head towards one side and raises an eyebrow in expectation. Taking another quick breath for bravery and to collect himself, Midnighter keeps his voice gentle and asks, “…what did you do? I mean, during that… that is… when I left…”

He is not sure he actually wants an answer, but watches silently as Apollo slowly gets up from the bed and strides towards the window, peering out at the morning sun as if he wants to gather strength from it. After a moment’s thought, Midnight realises he probably does. 

Apollo endeavours to sound flippant, but doesn’t quite convince: “Oh, you know, the day job, saving the planet…” He sighs deeply and his whole body reflects it. He glances over his shoulder towards Midnighter before looking away again and raising a finger to draw patterns on the window before him.

“Okay, I moped. You know I moped. It’s what I do. I thought about you, about what you were up to. I… was pathetic… and then… I just wanted you to be happy…” Another pause and another sigh. “I never meant to push you away like that, by asking too much from you”.

Midnighter had already started to move at the start of the sentence, padding almost silently across the room to wrap his arms around Apollo’s waist and press his forehead between the latter’s shoulder blades. And in that moment he feels Apollo shudder involuntarily.

Apollo’s voice softens to a near whisper, but he sounds anything but calm as he murmurs, “You didn’t even know I’d come… you could have…” He can’t quite finish this particular statement and instead chooses to push past it. “And then I’d never have seen you again, never have known…” He takes a halting breath – the sound of this giant of a man starting to break down. Midnighter gives Apollo a firmer squeeze, basking in the natural warmth of the latter’s body against his, and nuzzles between the shoulder blades with the side of his face. 

He knows Apollo is right; they should have spoken about this right away. Talking about feelings might well suck, but he recognises it’s time to do this – to deal with how his acts affected this man, the love of his life.

“I knew it, baby”, he coos gently, in a tone so low he can barely detect it from his own lips. He rubs his cheek between Apollo’s shoulder blades, trying to comfort him. Then he pauses, unwraps his arms and stands up straight again, all business. Placing a hand on each of Apollo’s upper arms, he turns him around, determined to continue this conversation face-to-face. As their eyes meet, he continues, ”There’s a reason I sent you the picture. In all that mess, when I should have been feeling heartbroken over… everything… all I could think about when I saw that photo was that you’d like it. I suddenly got what you wanted, why it mattered. And even if there will never be anything more than that one bit of evidence of my real self, before… before Bendix… I had to get it to you. I wanted that piece of me to live on with you. I had to have the only pure piece of me… in your hands”. 

Tears dwell at the bottom of Apollo’s eyes, but he manages a genuine smile – and, just for a moment, Midnighter’s breath is taken away. He suddenly realises how much he never wants the two of them to be apart again… but emotion not ever having been his strongest point, he composes himself and tries to lighten the mood as Apollo had done earlier. He smirks sideways and adds, “I mean, the fact I added comms to it just proves I’m also a manipulative bastard. But I never once doubted you’d come for me, if I needed you”. 

It works; the sombre mood is broken and Apollo leans across to give him a more considered kiss than those earlier quick pecks. Midnighter can’t help himself and reaches up to run fingers through Apollo’s hair. He eventually breaks the kiss and can’t resist an impish comment: “You could always grow it long again, you know?”

Apollo laughs; he can’t hold back his brightness for long and gives Midnighter a playful shove. As the chuckle ends, he looks directly at Midnighter and replies: “Manipulative, sure… but it worked.”


End file.
